This time around, we wanted a dancing partner for theMF® SPEEDWAYS Jeansissued for Fall 2017 in a special “coated denim”. This special NOS fabric isnotthe modern waxy black rubber type coating seen on novelty contemporary jeans, but rather an interesting indigo denim twill printed with a soft-hand opaque coat of matte black water-based ink. If the black ink completely covers the indigo blue warp of the denim, the usual light-colored grayish weft (with somewhat of a greenish sheen) shows on the reverse of the fabric. The slub of the yarns is visible on the weft threads, giving this specific denim its crosshatch quality.If the Cowboy Jacket in BCD initially looks flat black, it will develop its own patina overtime, blending shades of indigo with black and white, according to activities, frequency of wear and wash cycles. Undertones of indigo will rapidly appear with normal wear abrasion. See the denim wash test photos below, also featuring a small section rubbed with sand paper.

We opted for tonal stitching and un-branded oxidized black wreath donut buttons, for a rather unassuming vibe and neutral fashion statement.

The mfsc COWBOY Jacket in Black-Coated Denim is designed in California by Mister Freedom® and manufactured in the USA in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co.

SIZING/FITThe Cowboy Jacket in BCD (Black-Coated Denim) comes UN-WASHED and is cut so that the measurements match the labeling AFTER an initial cold soak/line dry. This specific denim is pretty much sanforized, and very minimal shrinkage is to be expected.We suggest you follow the usual initial method we recommend for raw denim garments:* 30-40mn cold soak with intermittent hand agitation, in minimally-filled washing machine or bath tub.* Spin dry cycle (if using a machine).* Hang dry.* As an optional step, wear the garment briefly when still not fully dry, in order to slightly shape it to your body and set creases. Hang and let fully dry.

The denim garment will stiffen when dry following this initial routine, due to the re-activated fabric starch contained in the cotton yarns. This is normal and the ‘crispiness’ will subside with normal wear.

As with all the versions of theMF® COWBOY Jacket, I opted tosize downfrom the Medium (38) I usually wear in msfc garments, and went for a snug36(once cold soaked/line dry.)What works is subjective and will depend on what silhouette you are comfortable and familiar with, on your body type and personal style.Please refer to sizing chart for approximate raw/soaked measurements. Soaked = 30mn cold soak, spin dry and line dry.

CARE:Treat the MF® COWBOY Jacket BCD as you would fancy indigo denim wearables. Hand washing can be a good option for those concerned with specific wear patterns and high-contrast colors fades, otherwise machine wash on delicate. Wash separately to avoid color transfer. Turn garment inside-out to minimize unsightly marbling of the fabric. Cold water, mild eco-friendly detergent. Hang dry.Initially black, your Cowboy Jacket BCD will develop its own attractive patina with normal wear, blending shades of indigo, black, and white, according to activities, frequency of wear and wash cycles.

If you were planning on adding a pair of jeans to your wardrobe menu, here is an “organic” version of ourCalifornian, specifically designed for raw foodies.Our MF® Californian blue jeans Lot.64 OG are cut from an older stock of premium denim from Cone Mills, and feature… ORGANIC cotton!

Not that anything about the process of making denim apparel usually epitomizes much of aneco-friendly gesture from us and the ever-booming international Denim Industry. In 2018, well over one billion pairs of blue jeans will likely change hands on the blue planet. This unrestrained consumerism means extensive farming of genetically-modified cotton (largely China and India),high water consumptionof indigo-dyeing and yarn-bleaching inherent to milling denim, unnecessary chemical ’vintage’ washes favored by many contemporary labels to boost sales, cleverly-planned obsolescence of disposable fast-fashion jeans with convincing “bargain” price tags, etc…As regular purveyors of selvedge denim wearables and members of this fine Industry, we, at Mister Freedom®, are well aware that featuring “organic denim” for Spring 2018 only buys us a temporary good conscience. The most we will claim is a determination to stick to environmentally-conscious countries for milling, sourcing and manufacturing denim, such as USA and Japan.

In any case, some time before hearing the sad news of theshutting downof Cone Denim White Oak plant in Greensboro, N.C., we secured a nice cargo of New Old Stock Cone 15.5 Oz organic denim. With an attractive raw indigo hue somewhat reminiscent of the color of rigid 501 Levi’s® one could pick-up from Army/Navy surplus stores in the 1970’s-80’s, this fabric was a perfect candidate for our Californian blue jeans family, the humble Mister Freedom® contributionto the crowded world of five-pocket jeans.

After road-testing an early proto, a few months of normal wear and a few washes later, the denimevoshowed similarities with the “Malibu” denim we used on theSpring 2017 Conductor Jacket, Speedways, etc… No high contrast fading or fast indigo abrasion (unlike the sugar cane fiber “Okinawa” denim of theLot.64 BB), no impressive Friday-special honeycombs, but a beautiful and uncommon indigo blue, a blessing for the denim-on-denim creative connoisseur who loves mixing-up his indigoes.

Feb 20, 2018 UPDATE: We received a kind and insightful email from our friend Chip at Cone Denim giving us the actual background of this specific fabric. Chip knows a thing or two about this organic indigo denim, as he personally developed it at the time:“We(Cone Denim)partnered withStony Creek Colorsin Tennessee who are working with Tobacco farmers to change their crops into indigo plant.This is how the fabric gets to be such a vibrant blue, and is completely unique from any other dye we have ever run in the past.It truly is one of the greatest, and most sustainable, selvedges we put out: Texas organic cotton,America indigo plant dye, all woven here in the US.”

The pocket bag fabric we opted for is an old stock of sturdy 100% cotton woven plaid with warm saffron/yellow tones, enhanced by the most flamboyant Californian paper flasher to date, featuring an enchanting sunsetin Venice Beach, California, hotter than a 1970’s Playboy® magazine fashion ad.

The Mister Freedom® Lot.64 OG are designed and manufactured in California by Mister Freedom®, in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co.

SIZING/FIT:The Californian LOT.64 OG (organic cotton) blue jeans come UN-WASHED and are cut so that the measurements match the labeling AFTER an initial cold soak/line dry. A tagged W32 x L34 will shrink to approximately 32 inches x 34 inches after a soak/dry process. Note that this specific denim is pretty much sanforized and will not move much.We recommend the usual protocol before wearing: cold soak for about 30mn/spin dry/line dry/wear briefly when still damp to set creases/line dry until fully dry.The word is to go for your usual mfsc (Mister Freedom® x Sugar Cane) waist size. I opted for a Waist 32 in the Lot.64OG, my usual size in the MF® Californian family.As with all denim twills, slight back-and-forth shrinkage/stretching will occur for a while, fluctuating according to the wearer’s body, activities and initial fit.

SIZING/FIT:The Californian LOT.64 BB “Okinawa” blue jeans come UN-WASHED and are cut so that the measurements match the labeling AFTER an initial cold soak/line dry. A tagged W32 x L34 will shrink to approximately 32 inches x 34 inches after a soak/dry process.We recommend the usual protocol cold soak/spin dry/line dry/wear briefly when still damp to set creases/line dry until fully dry.The size that will work for you depends on how you like your jeans to fit. I wear my usual Californian blue jeans W32 in the LOT.64 BB, for a comfortable fit.The fit pix show a pair of W32, cold-soaked once, worn on/off for about 1 week, with some more shrinkage/stretching down the line.We recommend getting your usual waist size, although proper fit is a subjective matter and everyone has their own idea of what looks good.As with all denim twill, shrinkage and stretching will occur for a while and will depend on the wearer’s body, activities and initial fit.Please refer to sizing chart for approximate raw/soaked measurements.

Via Christophs website, here are the details on the new Conductor Jacket

For Spring 2018, the MF® Conductor Jacket gets cut from another mfsc favorite, a vintage New Old Stock hickory stripe lightweight twill that came out of an old warehouse in Southern California. The hickory stripes were a perfect match for their old-school railroad worker-inspired jacket.

Whether worn as a top garment or as a layer under another ¾ length coat, with a classic bowtieà-laBing Crosby’sMusicaladers, with a simpleT-shirtorchambray workshirtà-laChoo-Choo Charlie, the MF® Conductor Jacket is pretty versatile. The numerous pockets make it quite a practical garment when running around town or traveling.

The Conductor Jacket is designed by Mister Freedom® and manufactured in California in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co.

SIZING/FIT:The MF® Conductor Jacket comes UN-WASHED (=raw) and is cut so that the measurements match the labeling after an initial cold soak/line dry. We recommend our usual method for raw denim garments:

* 30-40mn cold soak with intermittent hand agitation, in minimally-filled washing machine or bath tub.* Spin dry cycle (if using a machine).* Hang dry.The garment will stiffen when dry following this initial routine, due to the re-activated fabric starch contained in the cotton yarns. This is normal and the ‘crispiness’ will subside with normal wear.

I opted for a size 38 (Medium), for a relaxed fit. I could fit a size 36 but preferred having the option to layer in colder weather.Please refer to sizing chart for approximate raw/soaked measurements. Soaked = 30mn cold soak, spin dry and line dry.

CARE:

Wash when necessary.Machine wash with cold water, gentle cycle, eco-friendly mild detergent and line dry. Some light indigo blue transfer to the white yarns might occur. This is normal and will subside over time and subsequent wash cycles.

To ease into this new year in style, let’s introduce a new member of the Mister Freedom®Continental Sportcoatfamily, the first Spring 2018 addition to our all-made-in-USASportsmancatalog.

This classic and versatile unstructured blazer pattern is already available in an array of fine NOS fabrics, anindigo crosshatch twill, two greycotton-linen twills, and a light indigo“Player” denim. It now gets an elegant tropical twist with the New Old Stock fabric we recently scored, an 8.85 Oz. blend of 86% cotton and 14% linen, an elegant natural white twill with a subtly-contrasting heather oatmeal warp and white weft. The face of this denim-like fabric displays unbleached slubby flecks of natural fibers, while the reverse shows a whiter cotton yarn.Our (technically inaccurate) choice of term “Congo Gabardine” is a nod to “Congo Cloth”, a now-defunct rayon fabric typical of vintage tropical attire. Off-white suiting fabrics of the the 1920’s-40’s, such as “Congo Cloth”, or the illustrious Palm Beach Cloth(a cotton/mohair blend fabric milled by the Goodall Worsted Company, and cut into classic “Palm Beach” lightweight suits), certainly convey a bygone tropical elegance often eluding contemporary men’s summer fashion.

The Continental Sportcoat “Congo” comes raw/unwashed. We recommend our usual initial 30mn cold soak/occasional hand agitation/spin dry/hang dry process. The tagged size reflects the size of the garment after going through this process. The subtle variation of shrinkage between body fabric/lining fabric/cotton thread will result in puckering and roping, slightly altering the fit and drape.

I personally opted for a Size 38 in the Continental sportcoat “Congo”, consistant with all of its other iterations in various fabrics.Please refer to sizing chart for approximate raw/soaked measurements. Soaked = 30mn cold soak, spin dry and line dry.Full wash cycle and heat dryer are not recommended.

CARE:Hand wash or machine wash unbuttoned on delicate, cold water with minimal environmentally friendly detergent. Do not use bleach. Line dry.NOTE: Full washing cycle and heat dryer might result in excessive shrinkage and/or damage, to be experimented at owner’s risk.